


The World Needs You (You Don't Want It)

by yaoi_yaoieverywhere



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Anxious Katsuki Yuuri, Fame, For Want of a Nail, Internet Famous, M/M, Vicchan Lives, What-If, Yuuri Says No, first draft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-25
Updated: 2017-08-25
Packaged: 2018-12-19 17:26:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11902584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yaoi_yaoieverywhere/pseuds/yaoi_yaoieverywhere
Summary: Yuuri decides not to enter the world of professional skating at a young age. This doesn't mean it doesn't find and love him anyway.["I love it on my own here, where I don't have to fight so hard." Yuuko records Yuuri saying once when the triplets weren't even a bump in her belly. Eyes tracing the trails his skates leave in the ice as he skates backwards in front of her in slow curves. "Crowds would just keep me from that and then there'd be no point in it. Skating makes me happy now in a way I don't think would be possible if I tried to go pro."]





	The World Needs You (You Don't Want It)

**Author's Note:**

> A vague idea?? IDK if I could even continue this, even if I wanted to. First thing I've written in months tho so it ought to count for like what, half a kudos? Sorry for those of you subscribed who don't like YoI orz
> 
> I figured I should post something since it's my birthday tomorrow anyway. I need to get back into the swing of it somehow.

The thing is, here Yuuri never leaves Hasetsu for 'bigger things'. He let his anxiety keep him from competing no matter the insistence around him from beloved. His parents accept that and Minako cannot say she understands it but she still loves him as her nephew and cannot begrudge him anything.

"I love it on my own here, where I don't have to fight so hard." Yuuko records Yuuri saying once when the triplets weren't even a bump in her belly. Eyes tracing the trails his skates leave in the ice as he skates backwards in front of her in slow curves. "Crowds would just keep me from that and then there'd be no point in it. Skating makes me happy now in a way I don't think would be possible if I tried to go pro."

In that phrase Yuuko and Takeshi understood what he meant. Because they didn't go pro either. They liked it here, in their home town. The place where they knew what life would be like when they grew up and grew old. To ask Yuuri who obsessed so hard that tears would fall under the weight of expectations would be cruel.

That doesn't stop him from skating routines with all the passion top of the skating world would envy. He sketches his own routines starting in his early teens on the ice in the quiet hours around the rink sometimes but the way he brings passion to Viktor's is something Yuuko can't resist recording even when she stops being able to follow along.

He smiles at her after each routine because it's only ever her or Takeshi around. Whatever final pose he has reaches for her until he sees the camera. Then he shrieks and launches himself across the ice to try and snatch it from her. Sometimes the camera captures her laughs as she dances away. If people didn't know better when they saw the tapes they might think he was in love with her. But- She was like a sister who shared his favorite hobby.

Vicchan followed him everywhere, every day. There was a recording somewhere of Yuuri practicing his jumps near the edge of the rink with his dog running after him, visible from the implausible jumps that made his head only just flop over the barrier. He'd watch Yuuri play on the ice so patiently most other days and when he wasn't more often than not it was with children stumbling behind. Giggles following as everyone but Yuuri and Takeshi wobbled across the ice to try and follow the silly poodle. So tiny. So encouraging. So _beloved_.

"How do they always know he's my dog anyway?" Yuuri followed the small crowd of children learning how not to pay too much attention to their feet by chasing Vicchan as he bounced around the edge of the rink. "They never think he might be yours or Yuuko's."

"Dogs resemble their owners in such blatant ways is what I've heard. Never believed it myself until I saw Vicchan follow you to the ice rink that first time." Takeshi nudged Yuuri in the ribs firmly as the denial pinched the corners on his mouth. "You know it's true! Both of you could have won awards if you'd put yourself out there. Though I wouldn't call you a show dog."

"I want to be the best in what I do already. Can you imagine how bad I'd be if I'd gone to competitions? Trying to best Viktor is nigh impossible for people who have all the money and time in the world. I don't mind focusing on the hotel instead... There, I know I can do my best."

"I know, I know. There's just so much regret floating around lately that I wondered if maybe you'd gotten around to it too." Yuuri's smile was bittersweet as he looked down. Yes, he could see that. "It's never too late to find yourself a stage you know. We both know the only reason you get to eat that much katsudon is because you exercise every day like an Olympian."

"Don't remind me! The day Mari confused me for mom was the last straw. In the end it gave me the motivation to learn how to land Quads too which isn't so bad." Conversation petered out rather abruptly when one of the little boys finally managed to loop his arms around Vicchan's middle and swung the small pup in his arms as he wobbled with determination in their direction. Best not to let little ones carry anything on the ice at all, certainly not a living thing that was getting well into middle age.

The day the triplets discovered how to post videos to the internet was also the day the skating world was shaken in a way never expected. No matter how much it should have been.

Envy was one word for the rippling reaction of awe and concern when the triplets found the backlog Yuuko had kept when they were about to post their first recording of Stay Close To Me and posted absolutely everything at once. Uncle Yuuri was so cool in those videos and shouldn't everyone else see? Shouldn't the world know, the world that admired his idol for the same things but would never have known his name? Their hero was Yuuri in the end, in a way no distant professional could never be.

Within three hours of being posted, hundred of thousands of views decorated each and every single video. This was partly the fault of luck, or the grand prix just being over and done with for the year, and partly the fact Yuuko favorited enough skating videos that her account was followed by more than a handful of skating fanatics. The first few comments that asked about why she was posting videos of her childhood friend were so quickly drowned under the torrent.

Yuuko didn't find out what happened until the entire town was practically blocking her way to unlocking the rink. Chatter filled the air with Yuuri's name and phones shoved under people's noses as they watched Yuuri flow across the ice like a song everyone knew the words to but could never sing themselves. All the awe that came with it in their eyes.

As much as she wanted to call home and yell her anger and fear into the phone at Axel, Lutz, and Loop she knew Yuuri needed to be warned. Immediately. There was a half and half chance he'd be inside already before the crowd could have formed and the other side that he was still at home blinking sleep out of his eyes. Either way he didn't deserve the shock such a crowd would slam into him. And then the way the articles on her phone reeled about how today was so different because they had found him.

Suddenly the certainty that the Grand Prix that was supposed to have the top six skaters in the world was found lacking. Perhaps it was thought that if Yuuri had managed to stay out of it all these years with a level of skill that was comparable if not passing Viktor's without sponsorship or coach... There might be others? And even if there weren't surely Yuuri had to come compete this season, work his way up, for now he was known. Whether he'd consented or not.

He hadn't. He never would have in this world. That thought made a seesaw in Yuuko's mind because he deserved the money and the recognition to come. In doing so however the pressures of the world were ready to crash on him and he was so unprepared. Yuuri never skated those faux programs in front of anyone he didn't love. There was an entire world out there that wanted his love now and had done nothing to deserve it.

Backing away with eyes glued to the crowd, she pressed speed dial 2 and called with a hand steady only from her brain almost detaching itself from the reality of the situation. Yuuri would need her to be a rock. She'd done it for him before and wanted to do it again. Guilt licked at her insides as she waited for him to pick up.

"Yuuko?" Yuuri's breath was only just ragged with his morning warm up. He must already be inside the rink. "Do you need me to manage the rink alone today? Oh, I hope nothing too bad has happened..."

"That depends on your definition of bad," Yuuko admits carefully. "And I hate to say it's a huge part of yours."

"I- I'll admit I don't know what you could be talking about. No one's hurt or you'd just be straightforward but... I, What is it?"

"The girls figured out how to use Youtube last night."

"Youtube?" The echo of Yuuri's voice and the thunk of skate guards against floor let her know he'd switched to speakerphone. "Was that why they were darting around the rink yesterday? I admit I don't like the idea that other people saw me attempting to skate that program but surely it was only a few people before you took it down. Right?"

"Yuuri..." She barely felt herself swallow before she could continue. "I'm so sorry. It was quite a bit more than a few people who saw you skating and they uploaded all the videos I had of you skating."

"You... what?" The hitch in his breath was two seconds away from tears as his voice grows slowly fainter. "That's impossible though. I'm a nobody, even if there are so many videos out there. Surely you must be exaggerating the numbers. Tomorrow morning no one will remember me. Surely. Where are you anyway?"

"I'm near the rink now but-" The thunk of skate guards matching outside the locker room reached her ears. "Yuuri no! Don't go outside yet!"

"Don't be ridiculous Yuuko I'm sure there's nearly no one..." Yuuri's footsteps froze. "There..." 

Yuuko locked eyes with Yuuri with even a crowd and closed doors between them. She saw full blown terror crawl up his body in a way she hadn't seen in years as Vicchan whined loud enough for the phone to register. He didn't even have his glasses on yet but the blurry image of a crowd that he suddenly knew were there for him made his legs shake. There was no where to run though. That was the worst part. 

"Go back inside," Yuuko urged into the phone and she threw herself into the crowd as it surged towards the thankfully locked front door. "I'll deal with this for you, okay? Don't go looking any of this up on your phone without me Yuuri! I'm so sorry, my girls didn't mean for this to happen."

"They didn't mean to be cruel. I know." His voice is hoarse and defeated. "Just- how did this actually happen? I'm nobody."

"I don't know why yet." In truth she didn't even know the breadth of the issue entirely. Phichit watching with eyes that sparkled with every new video and narrowed at each slight indication of being camera shy. Yuri curled up with Potya in the early morning chill with rapt attention for his phone where he watches Yuuri's step sequences with care. Viktor's eyes so focused on how Yuuri reinvigorated his routine for fun he looked almost angry at himself. Minami looks at it and thinks of what Japan could look like on this man's shoulders and grins so wide it's a wonder his face doesn't split. "But you've never been a Nobody to me."

The skating world wakes up to a rival that had turned away from it once. Now it was reaching out for him the only way it could. The world rumbling his name without warning. Greedy little things all clamoring for more of his talent.

He turns his back on the world and hides on the ice of Hasetsu's Ice Castle. Yuuko finally squeezes her way into the front and gets their attention off of Yuuri's retreating back with a camera shoved in her face and questions going rapid fire from more than the hand on the mic. _Does she work here, does she know that young man, did she post the videos, what is their relationship, how long has he been skating, why didn't he go pro, why is he here of all places, how did no one notice-_

"Of course we noticed how talented he is," Yuuko grinds out with a false smile. "But all he has ever wanted is privacy for his hobby. Yuuri loves skating for himself and that's all he's ever wanted. We respect him wanting that. In the meanwhile, Ice Castle Hasetsu doesn't open for another hour, so excuse me." With the tiniest sketch of a bow she unlocks the door just long enough to slide inside and lock it again.

Only now does she really regret the glass front doors she'd gotten to pick when they'd remodeled a bit to be more modern. Cameras loved it nearly as much as she resented them. Now though it was more important she finds Yuuri and starts to help him pick up the pieces of shattered peace. Takeshi would get the girls to school and only then would she tell him what happened. She didn't want him to struggle between grounding them and praising them as his instincts warred.

Because technically it was supposed to be a good thing. A rare chance almost no one would ever have thrust right in Yuuri's face for a second time. The very same chance he had refused before out of fear. His entire soul had taken flight at the idea of battling anxiety day after day for a crowd whose names he'd never know and she wished he hadn't some times. Not today.

It wasn't like they'd magically disappear and respect his wishes though. Oh no. The skating community was determined to have him close now, and when they found out what his personality was like there'd be no stopping them. But that... That was an issue for later. For now Yuuko's sneakers squeak in protest as she makes a sharp turn into the locker room just in time to see Yuuri's first tear slide down his paling cheek. 

Pulling each other close was all they could think to do. The hug they shared couldn't stop Yuuri from feeling mortified. But... The comfort was reassuring. He wasn't on his own against the havoc his life was crumbling into. Digging his fingers into her jacket reminded him of all the times he'd gotten through the crushing weigh of expectations before with her believing in him.

"We'll fix this soon. You'll see."

**Author's Note:**

> Someone who cares more about this idea, take it from me, pls


End file.
